


Mercy Of The Undertow

by SilverWing15



Series: Heart Of The Sea [1]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Child Abandonment, Child Neglect, Debated Child Murder, Gen, Its Dream guys, Mer culture has some Sticking Points when it comes to children, Merpeople, Tommy is not having a good time :(, Yikes.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 09:22:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29964258
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverWing15/pseuds/SilverWing15
Summary: “We found something,” she says, “that you might want to take a look at.”Dream sighs and motions for her to lead him to whatever it is they’ve found. They know enough not to trouble him with stupid things. Sure enough, there, tangled in the nets that they’d captured the mer in, there is a lump of fins and scales. A baby mer.Prequel to: Turn Of The Tide
Series: Heart Of The Sea [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2185698
Comments: 26
Kudos: 346
Collections: Completed stories I've read





	Mercy Of The Undertow

**Author's Note:**

> I'm baaack! With more Mer Pain for you guys woo. 
> 
> Its mentioned in the tags but Mer Culture has some Hangups about kids that Tommy is an unfortunate victim of. Namely, if a kid gets lost, that's fucking it fam. You're lost, the Sea Mother has claimed you and you are not allowed to come back to the group. You're a ghost or some other spirit now and you'll only bring a curse onto the rest of the pod so you best keep swimming.  
> Which is how the center ends up with so many kids in their care. Pretty much all of the human-raised mer population is kids that got lost and found.  
> Unfortunately for Tommy he got found by...Drem.  
> Who considers killing him. Because Dream. yay Dream, she said sarcastically.  
> Luckily Dream is not immune to Baby Tommy Puppy Dog Eyes. 
> 
> I need to put my worldbuilding up at some point, I've got a lot of it saved up, there's some that got put into Techno's backstory but I'm not finished with that and I'm not sure when I will be plus I can't fit *everything* in there so if you guys are interested in seeing the backstage lemme know. I might even throw in the chapters of the original Mer AU that I have, and the outline. 
> 
> Also, as always, big thanks to Maddie for being an awesome Writing Buddy and providing ideas and encouragement and general awesomeness.

He hates coming on these expeditions, but it is better if he’s here to better manage any bumps in the road. Mer are unpredictable and people are stupid. When they meet there can only be mistakes, and mistakes cost him. 

Better he come along and minimize them as best he can. 

There weren’t many this time, a few people a bit slow on their ropes, the mer being a bit quicker on the uptake than most of their kind. All in all though, a successful venture, and he’s got new stock. 

It was a fairly big group of males, six in all, but two got away. The four they captured is enough, though. Dream casts an evaluating eye over the creatures, bound and muzzled properly on the deck. 

The biggest of them, scaled in electric blue growls at him. Dream’s lip curls in disdain and steps over them. “Take us home,” he tells the captain, he’s worked with the man for years but hasn’t bothered to learn his name. He doesn’t need to, the man does good work and keeps his mouth shut. Dream pays him well for this. 

“Sir?” 

Dream turns to find a member of the crew wringing her hands, he raises an eyebrow. 

“We found something,” she says, “that you might want to take a look at.” 

Dream sighs and motions for her to lead him to whatever it is they’ve found. They know enough not to trouble him with stupid things. Sure enough, there, tangled in the nets that they’d captured the mer in, there is a lump of fins and scales. A baby mer. 

Its tiny, staring up at them with wide eyes, making little chirps in the back of its throat. Dream has never seen a mer so small. They don’t bother going after pods, females and babies don’t make for good fighters. 

Well, females might, but they’re too difficult to catch to be worth it. 

Babies are utterly useless. 

But Dream will admit that they’re kind of cute, in the way any baby animal is cute. The humanoid features of the mer only make it moreso. Dream crouches before the little thing, he can count its ribs. 

He thought mer took care of their children better than this. He scoffs, just another way that they are lesser. Too stupid to even care properly for their next generation. This one is very small though, maybe they’d kicked it out for being a runt. 

“Poor little scrap,” Dream mutters, mostly to himself. He reaches out, curious to see how aggressive a baby mer might be. The adults are plenty so, he’s expecting the child to be no different. 

Instead of hissing and snarling, it croons at him and leans its cheek into his hand. 

Dream is not so cold a man that he can’t admit that it is endearing. A smile finds its way onto his lips. “Aren’t you friendly?” he murmurs. He holds a hand out to the crew-woman, “knife.” 

There is a moment of hesitation, but she hands it to him. 

Carefully, Dream cuts away the net, freeing the baby mer. Even though he could kill it in an instant with this blade, the baby doesn’t seem to care. It purrs, seeming entranced by the gleam of light on the metal. 

With the net cut away, Dream can see that the mer is less of a baby and more of a toddler. If it were human he’d say its no more than three or four. Either way, its far too young to be of use, and far too young to make it in the sea by itself. 

The mer reaches for the knife, babbling and trilling. Unaware of the danger. 

It would be a mercy to kill it, really. 

Dream is running a fighting ring, not an orphanage, there’s no way he’s bringing the kid back to a pod, even if he could find one. They probably wouldn’t take it back anyway, the kid’s been kicked out once. 

Dream cups the mer’s jaw in one hand, tilting its chin to the side. 

It closes its eyes with a soft pur, nuzzling its cheek into his palm. Its little hands wrap around his wrist, claws not even long enough to pierce the sleeve of his jacket. It opens its eyes and stares up at him, innocent, trusting. 

Dream is a pragmatic man, a cold one, most people say, but he has a soft spot for kids. A mer isn’t a child, but he still can’t bring himself to stab it. He sighs, handing the knife back to the crewmate. “Get me some fish,” he commands, “poor thing looks half starved.” 

They’ll find some use for the mer, maybe sell it, not many mer kids make it onto the market. In the meantime, Dream scoops the mer closer. It snuggles into his chest, looking up at him with wide blue eyes, vibrant against the dull scales dusted on its cheeks. 

Dream can’t help smiling at it as he stands. 

He runs a hand down its spine and feels the barely-there start of a sail. A young male, then. He hums, considering. Maybe he’ll even keep the kid, raise him up tame. There are some mer raised by humans who manage to be somewhat civilized. Dream can do better than some soft hearted do-gooder. 

With the right training and discipline, he could raise up a truly civilized mer, the perfect thing to show prospective business partners. “Would you like that?” Dream asks, “you want to stay with me?” 

The little mer purrs, playing with the buttons on his jacket. 

“You’ll need a name,” Dream muses, he glances around, hoping inspiration will strike. The only things around them are the ocean and the ship. Well, that could work. “How about Tommy?” 

The little mer chirps, looking up at him again. Dream smiles, “alright. Tommy it is.” 

*** 

He chirps, but there is no answer. He has been calling for days, but still no one answers. He curls his tail around himself, looking out to the endless blue in the hopes that he will see his pod in the distance, but there is no one. 

It wasn’t supposed to go like this. He was supposed to do something amazing, he was supposed to earn his name. He was going to be the youngest one in the nursery with a name. But now he is lost, the Sea Mother does not have a name to tell the waves to bring him home. 

He chirps again. 

He is too tired to swim, he can only sit here in the coral and call. He keens, warbling for someone to come rescue him. He’s hungry and he’s tired and he wants to go back to the nursery, he wants to play with the others and have the matriarch hold him close. 

In the distance, a song. It is a male’s song, like the nursery guard’s. Only it is not his, he doesn’t know who it is, but it is _someone_. 

He trills gratitude and happiness, he swims towards the sound, chirping. Finally he finds them, it is a large pod. Six of them their leader is scaled in vibrant blues. He chirps again, struggling to keep up with them. 

They do not acknowledge him. 

_No no no,_ he isn’t cursed! Don’t they see? The Sea Mother hasn’t claimed him, he found _them_. He pushes himself, putting on a burst of speed until he can latch onto the tail of the blue male. 

Blue whips around and snarls, deep and menacing. He lets go immediately, backpedaling with apology chirps spilling from his lips. His arms raise to protect his throat. 

Blue growls, flaring his fins, warning him away. The rest of the pod is moving on. 

He isn’t lost anymore, he isn’t cursed. He trills pleadingly, reaching for the blue mer. Blue turns away. 

He keens, desperate, desolate. He is cursed, he is Lost and even being found isn’t enough. The Sea Mother has claimed him as hers and the waves do not have a name to tell his pod. 

He curls his arms around himself, drifting towards the bottom. 

The males are singing again. 

No! He just needs to show them, he’ll show them. He beats his tail, rising back up to the surface and chasing after Blue’s tail again. They are leaving the reef, heading out to deeper waters. 

He churrs uncertainly, then tries to call to the males again. Telling them to wait, asking them to help keep him safe from the currents. They do not listen. 

They have barely left the reef when _something_ comes from the water and scoops them out. He is afraid, chirping and trilling, but the males are _furious_ , they snarl and shriek, teeth flashing. 

He curls up, desperately trying to avoid their claws. They don’t care that he is among them now. Trapped just as they are. He whines, but no one listens, no one comes for him, no one helps. 

There are voices, not mer, but humans. He isn’t sure why the males think that the humans are dangerous. His pod is friends with the humans, not like some matriarchs who say that they are bad, he knows that they are friendly. They’re not very good at swimming, but they are fun and they can sing just as well as any mer. 

The humans are shouting, and they sound just as angry as the males. The thing opens and the males spill out, but he is still tangled in it. He hides himself in the thing, pulling it tight around him like a den. He hides his face, shutting his eyes tightly. 

He doesn’t understand, the humans his pod knows never did this. He doesn’t like this game. 

He chirps, hoping that the males will reassure him, that anyone will, but the humans drag them away. He is alone again. He chirps again and again, he doesn’t _want_ to be alone. He hates being alone. He wants them to come back. He chirps, high and lonely.

A human comes back and he reaches out to them, trilling. They don’t pick him up though, they only stare at him for a moment and then turn away. He keens, he doesn’t know what he did wrong, he wants them to come back. He wants anyone to come. 

Then the human _does_ come back, with another one. This one is wearing green clothes, much better than the dull ones the other humans are wearing. He likes Green immediately. 

When Green presses their hand to his cheek, he leans into it with a purr. They haven’t left him. Green cuts him free of the thing and holds him close. He doesn’t know much human talk, but he knows the word for name, and he knows that Green has given him one. 

It isn’t the same as being given one by the Matriarch, but he has done it. Tommy has a name, and he has Green, surely he will help him back to his pod once he is done playing whatever game he is playing with the males. 

Humans are kind, Tommy knows this, and Green is holding him close to his heart, safe and warm. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!


End file.
